Bax inhibitor-1 down-regulation in the progression of chronic liver diseases.
BMC Gastroenterol
; 10: 35, 2010 Apr 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20359348
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Bax inhibitor-1 (BI-1) is an evolutionary conserved endoplasmic reticulum protein that, when overexpressed in mammalian cells, suppresses the apoptosis induced by Bax, a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family. The aims of this study were (1) to clarify the role of intrinsic anti- and pro-apoptotic mediators, evaluating Bax and BI-1 mRNA and protein expressions in liver tissues from patients with different degrees of liver damage; (2) to determine whether HCV and HBV infections modulate said expression.METHODS:
We examined 62 patients 39 with chronic hepatitis (CH) (31 HCV-related and 8 HBV-related); 7 with cirrhosis (6 HCV-related and 1 HBV-related); 13 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [7 in viral cirrhosis (6 HCV- and 1 HBV-related), 6 in non-viral cirrhosis]; and 3 controls. Bax and BI-1 mRNAs were quantified by real-time PCR, and BI-1 protein expression by Western blot.RESULTS:
CH tissues expressed significantly higher BI-1 mRNA levels than cirrhotic tissues surrounding HCC (P < 0.0001) or HCC (P < 0.0001). Significantly higher Bax transcripts were observed in HCV-genotype-1-related than in HCV-genotype-3-related CH (P = 0.033). A positive correlation emerged between BI-1 and Bax transcripts in CH tissues, even when HCV-related CH and HCV-genotype-1-related CH were considered alone (P = 0.0007, P = 0.0005 and P = 0.0017, respectively).CONCLUSIONS:
BI-1 expression is down-regulated as liver damage progresses. The high BI-1 mRNAs levels observed in early liver disease may protect virus-infected cells against apoptosis, while their progressive downregulation may facilitate hepatocellular carcinogenesis. HCV genotype seems to have a relevant role in Bax transcript expression.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
RNA
/
Regulação para Baixo
/
Hepatite C Crônica
/
Proteínas Reguladoras de Apoptose
/
Fígado
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Cirrose Hepática
/
Proteínas de Membrana
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Gastroenterol
Assunto da revista:
GASTROENTEROLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2010
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália